LEADERSHIP
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR 4/2016
Knowledgeable Sherpas
Leadership in corporate communications is an excellent basis for senior careers in several directions: this is especially
true in Asia Pacific, where the diversity of opportunities can
be a doorway to global responsibilities. But how do professionals at the top of corporate communications find the time,
inspiration and motivation to make that next move? What
are the stumbling blocks to avoid and what are the practical
tips to bear in mind? Here are seven keys that unlock the
next stage of your career.
BY KATRINA ANDREWS
A
fter taking on the challenge of a
senior corporate affairs position,
what can an Asia-based communications practitioner do next? Many
worry that such a job represents the
highest rung of their career ladder;
that, afterwards, only a succession
of similar roles in similar companies
awaits. It is a concern our report Pathways was designed to address, as
we explored the very divergent career
paths taken by nine former top professionals in the region. Since their spells
as heads of APAC corporate communications for various multinationals,
our interviewees have all moved into
very different professions – public
sector, private sector, non-govern-
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mental organisations, governments,
public relations agencies, alternative
in-house roles or their own businesses.
That diversity alone demonstrates that
communications in Asia should never
be seen as a glass ceiling but rather as
a career launchpad.
Many common themes emerged
time and again from our conversations
with these high-achievers:
1.
Don’t be shaped by
your career, shape it
to you
Common to all of our interviewees was
the idea that ambition is a determinedly personal matter. “You need to define
‘success’ in your own terms,” summarised David Kneebone, now leading a
public education programme in Hong
Kong. “It’s knowing what really gives
you satisfaction, and it can take years
– even decades – to work that out.”
For our interviewees, their careers
were not adjuncts to their lives. All of
them took seriously the idea that a
career was there to be relished. But all
were also committed to the idea that
their career had a duty to inspire them.
This was exemplified most clearly by
their impatience with unsatisfactory
job situations. Few lingered for more
LEADERSHIP
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR 4/2016
than a year in a job they felt wasn’t
advancing their skills and leadership
capabilities. Most had changed jobs at
least a dozen times, and through many
different professions, companies and
countries. It was a clear lesson: the successful and fulfilled show the initiative
to lead their career from the front.
2.
Build personal
networks
“I was out in Asia with the company,”
recalled Tim Cobb of his time leading
APAC communications at Merrill
Lynch. “But I would often visit New
York on business and, while I was
there, I was taking 40 meetings a week
with the people at headquarters, building up my contact list. That makes
the difference when a vacancy opens
up, of course it does.”
It was an approach that soon landed him the role at Group as Merrill
Lynch’s global head of communications. A decade later, while heading
up APAC communications for UBS,
he repeated the trick – and in even
bolder ways. “In the end, I just got
on a plane in Hong Kong and flew
to Zurich. I decided to combine a
long-proposed skiing holiday with
visiting UBS headquarters. That was
my first time at HQ. And while there, I
basically forced everyone to meet me.”
Eighteen months later, he was made
head of external communications for
UBS Group. Career growth is a personal responsibility, and it should be
managed as you manage all communications campaigns: by capitalising
on your expert powers of persuasion.
3.
Take ‘handbraketurns’ in your career
to develop broader
skills
“I’m an evangelist for saying ‘Yes’ to
new challenges,” Mark Devadason
told us. “I couldn’t be doing the not-
for-profit work I’m doing now – liaising
between industries and professions – if
I didn’t have a great diversity of experience in my own background.” Many
interviewees talked with great passion,
even zealotry, about the benefits of taking radical ‘handbrake turns’ in their
careers that more conservative careerists might baulk at. Most had jumped
between agency and in-house work.
Several had taken up completely new
challenges – tax lobbying, marketing,
training, starting their own agencies.
Devadason went from core banking roles at Standard Chartered Bank
to become global head of training; from
there back into retail banking, country
CEO positions and, ultimately, through
more contortions, to become head of
corporate affairs and sustainability. “Moving around just gives you so
many new skills, and that gives you
more options further down the line,”
he argued. “Ultimately, it also gives you
better odds of landing by chance in a
field that you suddenly find to be a real
passion.” That is precisely what happened to him: his final corporate role
sparked a sudden interest in the topic
of sustainability, and he now happily
sits as a non-executive director on the
board of several charities in the field.
4.
Grasp opportunities
that appear, don’t
pass because you’re
‘waiting for
something more
comfortable’
A high proportion of those career
moves for our interviewees had come
about not because they had actively
sought out a new position, but because one had come up unexpectedly and
they had decided to grab it. Rather than
say, “That’s outside my comfort zone”
or “I’ll think about it”, these high-achievers had leapt at the opportunity immediately.
“There are not many people who
move to the agency side after 13 years
in-house,” said Ruby Fu, the new CEO
“!Our interviewees
have all moved into
very different
professions...
That diversity alone
demonstrates that
communications in
Asia should never
be seen as a glass
ceiling but rather
as a career launchpad.”
at Burson-Marsteller China. “But when
that opportunity presented itself earlier this year, it was just obvious. Yes,
I’ve taken a calculated risk. But what is
that ‘risk’, really? Only that, if it doesn’t
work out, I’ll go back to corporate communications.”
None of our interviewees expressed regrets about opportunities grabbed in an instant – even when they
turned out to be false moves. Wesley
McDade took an executive job during
his early career, before later recognising
it as a step too far, too soon. “But here’s
the thing: as tough as it was, if I had
said ‘No’ to that opportunity in 1998, I
would probably still be in Hong Kong
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LEADERSHIP
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR 4/2016
today, still head of communications for
Asia Pacific. I wouldn’t have progressed
any further in my career. So although
it was well outside my comfort zone, I
now look back on it as developmental
and necessary.”
As David Kneebone pointed out,
“the moves that took me the furthest
outside my comfort zone were the
points where I grew the most.”
“!Many
interviewees
talked with
great passion
about the
benefits of
taking radical
‘handbrake
turns’ in their
careers that
more
conservative
careerists
might baulk
at.”
5.
Be open with
people about your
career frustrations
and goals
One unconventional theme to emerge
was our interviewees’ habit of sharing
their personal ambitions (and frustrations) with the leadership around
them.
Joanne Tan, for example, felt she
had done all there was to do in corporate communications at HP over a 15year career. But it was because she was
unafraid to share that sense of stagnation with the managing director of HP
Asia that, behind the scenes, he went
out of his way to create an entirely new
role for her: HP Asia’s first ever “chiefof-staff.”
Telling top leadership that you are
dissatisfied can often be seen as a fasttrack to losing your job. But if done in
the right way, and with the right people, it can stimulate ideas from people
who have an objective view of your
skills. They might see more clearly
than you how to move you into the
role that best fits your talent.
6.
Don’t underestimate
the career value of
being in Asia
The two interviewees who have now
left Asia to take on global roles had,
perhaps, the most objectivity about
the value a position in Asia can bring.
Looking back, both were clear that it
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RUBY FU’S CAREER
HISTORY
˙
CEO China, Burson-Marsteller
(Beijing 2016-Presen)
˙
Head of Corporate Affairs,
Greater China Region and Hong
Kong, Standard Chartered Bank
(Hong Kong 2013-2014)
˙
Head of Corporate Affairs, Hong
Kong and Japan, Standard
Chartered Bank (Hong Kong
2013-2014)
˙
Head of Corporate Affairs,
Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan
(Taiwan 2008-2012)
˙
Director Corporate Affairs,, Philip
Morris International (Taiwan
2003-2008)
˙
Executive Directors, Cloud Gate
Dance Foundation (Taiwan 20012002)
˙
Managing Director China, Ogilvy
Public Relations worldwide
(Shanghai 1998-2000)
˙
Managing Director Hong Kong
and China, Ogilvy Public Relations worldwide (Hong Kong
1996-1998)
˙
Managing Director Taiwan, Burson-Marsteller Taiwan (Taiwan
1995-1996)
˙
General Manager, Ogilvy Public
Relations Taiwan (Taiwan 19861994)
LEADERSHIP
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR 4/2016
was a professional goldmine. Wesley
McDade reflected that being Asia communications lead for Morgan Stanley
had given him rare levels of executive
access, as senior leaders flying out from
headquarters relied on him to guide
them around the region. “It’s an incredible career opportunity few employees in your organisation will ever get
– to be the experienced and knowledgeable ‘Sherpa’ for the company’s top
management in unfamiliar terrain,” he
said. For McDade, it was what led directly to him being offered the job of group
head of communications at Morgan
Stanley in New York: the company’s
president, now a personal contact, had
put him forward for the open vacancy
when it came up.
Sometimes, a career for a multinational in Asia can feel like being at the
thin end of a long wedge. But you’re
also in a region renowned for its work
ethic, diversity, complexity and rapid
growth. If you put yourself forward
for a new job, you present an incredibly compelling story by virtue of having
worked in this astonishing region.
7.
Remember that you
take your skills with
you
“It’s not that different in many ways,”
said Tim Nicholls, reflecting on his new
life running his own agency after years in in-house corporate communications. “I’m still working with business
leaders, I’m still coming up with creative solutions. I still spend my days
inside corporations. I haven’t gone left
or right at a crossroads and shifted direction; it’s all an evolution of the same
career journey.”
The same sentiments were echoed
by all our interviewees, whatever their
new roles. Change can be daunting. It
makes the future unclear. But all of
our interviewees – without exception
– were adamant about one thing: you
should never see a career move as leaving you stranded. “Every time you
move on, you bring everything with
you,” explained Mark Devadason.
MARK DEVADASON’S CAREER
HISTORY
˙
Director, The Mekong Club (Hong
Kong 2016-Present)
˙
Member, Board of Directors,
Business for Social Responsibility
(Hong Kong 2015-Present)
˙
Group Head of Regions for Corporate Affairs and Global Head of
Sustainability, Standard Chartered
Bank (Hong Kong 2010-2015)
˙
President and CEO, Standard
Chartered Bank Thailand (Bangkok 2008-2010)
˙
CEO Standard Chartered Bank
(Tokyo 2003-2008)
˙
Various management and leadership roles – debt recovery,
head of global corporates, (Hong
Kong), Group Head of Training for
the Wholesale Bank (Singapore),
Head of Corporate Banking (Thailand), Group Head of Offshore
Banking (Hong Kong), Standard
Chartered Bank (1985.2008)
“That’s the great thing about a career: it
builds. The slate doesn’t wipe clean with
each move, it just gets richer and more
detailed. So the idea of change should
never stop you: it should actually drive
you on.” !
“!That’s the
great thing
about a career:
it builds. The
slate doesn’t
wipe clean with
each move, it
just gets richer
and more
detailed.”
KATRINA ANDREWS
Managing Partner,
Andrews Partnership
Katrina Andrews established Andrews
Partnership after four years as a board
director at VMA, where she founded
VMA Group Asia Pacific with the creation of its Hong Kong and Singapore
offices 2011-12. In 2015, Katrina became
the first recruitment professional
ever-listed in PRWeek’s global Power
Book 500. Previously, Katrina spent seven years as APAC Managing Director
at Melcrum, global specialists in internal
communications research, where she
founded the company’s first operations
in the region.
To preorder a full copy of the Pathways
research study, Pathways: Beyond APAC
Corporate Communications, head online
to www.andrews-partnership.com
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